Is Barcelona's pursuit of Marco Verratti at the expense of Ivan Rakitic worth it?

If recent reports are anything to go by, the mighty Catalan giants Barcelona have identified the Italian pass master Marco Verratti as a priority signing for the club in the ongoing transfer window. The Italian has turned heads with his performances for Paris Saint-Germain since moving to the French club in 2012 and it is perhaps the right time for him to move to another club as he seeks to establish himself as one of the best in the business.

However, Barca’s continued interest has further created a rather speculative position for one of their own player, the Croatian Ivan Rakitic. It was largely believed that Rakitic would leave Camp Nou in the last transfer window, with the likes of Juventus lurking only before the player signed a contract extension that keeps him at the club until the end of the 2020-21 season.

Despite there being a while to go before his current contract with Barcelona expires, Rakitic is now being touted to be the player that Barca would be willing to let go at a fair price so that they can fund the purchase of Verratti.

While there is a lot of time to go between now and the end of the transfer window and the dimensions could change, is it the right decision to make? Are Barcelona making a mistake by selling one of the best midfielders in the world for another so as to satisfy their own hubris?

Very little to choose between the two as an anchor

What makes the aforementioned players one of the hottest commodities in the game of football is their ability to anchor their respective sides. They are both extremely industrious, have a knack for efficiently stitching up the play between their respective defence and attack and have the ability to control the rhythm of the game as per their team’s requirement. These traits have made them a rather formidable opponent to line up against and have more often than not they have proved their mettle even on the grandest of stages.

However, when it comes to footballers, there are often finer aspects of the game that can prove to be the differentiating factor and in this case, we believe it is their ability to retain the ball as well as put it to good use. For a fair comparison, we shall take the average of the numbers that are available to us from the beginning of the 2012-13 season, the season in which Verratti moved to the French capital.

Rakitic has earned himself a reputation for being one of the cleanest players in the game when he has the ball at his feet. His effortless yet effective passing has been the foundation for many of Barcelona’s attacks over the recent years and it goes without saying that the Croatian has established himself as a vital cog in the wheel at the club.

While the 29-year-old Croatian’s numbers are impressive, Verratti has shown a greater ability to remain effective with his passing, that despite him being in his formative years as a professional footballer. The Italian has a pass completion rate of over 90% and has shown time and again that he possesses the proverbial ability to thread the eye of a needle with the ball.

One of the Italian’s many admirers is the former Spain and Barcelona great Xavi who believes Verratti has a playing style very similar to his and has a great ability to retain possession of the ball. However, a look at the statistics reveals otherwise.

While Verratti, on an average, lost the ball every 65 minutes, Rakitic is actually tougher to knock off the ball as he is wise with his runs and also uses his skill on the ball to keep the ball away from the opposition as he averaged a dispossession every 94 minutes.

The greater threat in front of the goal?

Having looked at their performances over the last few seasons as the anchors of their side’s midfield, it is important that we now look at another very important aspect both of them are required to perform every time they step on the pitch and that is creating chances. The common footballing jargon being used to describe the PSG midfielder is “Regista” and deservedly so.

The Italian has shown an ability to function effectively as a deep lying playmaker and over the course of his time at PSG, he has shown considerable improvement in numbers when it comes to creating goal scoring opportunities as is evident from the fact that he created a goal scoring opportunity every 47 minutes in 2016-17 when compared to his first season at PSG, where he created an opportunity every 120 minutes.

In comparison, Rakitic has kept the Barcelona fans rather busy with his attacking displays as he often looks to open up the opposition with a mix of intricate passing and movement. The Croatian has created a goal scoring opportunity every 64 minutes since the beginning of the 2012-13 season and is a threat that needs to be addressed by the opposition every time he is on the pitch.

However, what really tilts the weight in the favour of the Croatian when it comes to attacking contribution is his ability to score regular goals. Rakitic has averaged a goal every five games, with many of them coming at a crucial time in a game. On the other hand, the Italian averages a goal every 33 games.

While it might have a lot to do with him being deployed in a deeper role, there is no denying the fact that every midfielder at Barcelona is expected to contribute goals and should they decide to let him part ways with them, Barcelona would be letting go of their second most effective midfielder in front of the goal after Arda Turan.

Verratti’s style defies his physical stature

If there is one thing that is underappreciated about Marco Verratti, it is his ability to effectively break down the opposition’s rhythm using a mix of tackles, interceptions, blocks and harmless fouls.

He is effective going into tackles and his industriousness ensures that he is often flying into tackles to clean up the mess of his teammates. He is clean yet does not shy away from doing his fair share of the dirty work when required and if his time at PSG was any indication, like any Italian, he relishes going into a 50-50 challenge.

Rakitic, on the other hand, relies heavily on his ability to intercept loose balls and passes and given his ability to create chances out of nothing, his ability to intercept the opposition has come in extremely handy at Barcelona.

While unafraid to tackle, Rakitic is not exactly the player who relishes going into a duel as he averages half as many tackles as the Italian over the course of the last few seasons. When it comes to their defensive contributions, while both the players do contribute to their respective sides, they do so in a very different manner.

It appears as if Barcelona are paying over the odds for Marco Verratti

While Barcelona’s interest in Verratti is understandable, we fail to understand as to why the club is willing to go to any length so as to acquire his services when they have someone of the stature of Rakitic’s calibre and experience at their disposal. Yes, he is younger than Rakitic and is yet to enter his prime years according to many but is it the right time and price to acquire his services? Only time can tell.

A lot of media outlets are beginning to report that Barcelona might be willing to sell Rakitic to PSG for a swap plus £65 million and that baffles us as the club is not only willing to pay over the odds for the Italian, they are also ready to part ways with one of the best Croatian midfielders of all times.

With the transfer window still young, this is perhaps the story that will captivate millions of fans worldwide and we cannot wait to see how this story unfolds itself.